Chagas disease in blood donors
Rigou, D.G.; Carnevalli, L.
Medicina 57(6): 693-698
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0025-7680 PMID: 9674190 Document Number: 477665
The study covers a group of 100 asymptomatic blood donors (14 women and 86 men) with positive serological test for Chagas' disease. All of them were living in urban non endemic areas at the moment of the test, but before they had lived in endemic areas. Patients with coronary heart disease, congenital heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, alcoholism or thyroid disease were not included. The sample was split in two groups: Group I: 23 patients (aged 41.95 +/- 10.52) with evidence of myocardial involvement at physical examination, chest roentgenograms and/or EKG, that we considered inherent to Chagas cardiopathy; and Group II: 77 patients (aged 38.36 +/- 10.57) without abnormal findings. There were no significant differences between the two groups in age, sex, type of house in the endemic area and familial history of Chagas' disease. We found significant differences in the period of residence in endemic areas of Chagas' disease (Group I 21.26 years +/- 7.21 vs Group II: 15.56 years +/- 5.91; p = 0.0015). Additionally, patients in Group I were more frequently able to describe or recognize the transmitting insect than patients in group II (p = 0.05) and to accept the possibility of a triatomide bite (p = 0.024). In group I, more people were coming from Santiago del Estero province, an area with a large bug infection. The results of our research suggest that the myocar-dial damage in patients with positive serological test for Chagas' disease is more likely when there is a larger exposure to the transmitting insect, and when its infestation is larger. All of this, probably, as a consequence of incoulation reiterations.